Increasing numbers of individuals are utilizing online conversation tools, e.g., instant messaging, to facilitate communications with family, friends, and colleagues. Oftentimes, displayed in association with the content of an online conversation, is one or more advertisements. However, as the displayed advertisements are not generally relevant to the user, these advertisements are seldom noticed and even when noticed are frequently disregarded.
Additionally, the topic of online conversations oftentimes takes the form of an inquiry regarding a particular topic or product a user may be interested in. Even though the content of the online conversation indicates that the user has a particular interest in a specific topic, in order to retrieve information related to the topic, the user must access a general search engine outside of the online conversation window and attempt to locate relevant information from a generally extensive list of resources.
Accordingly, a method for utilizing the content of an online conversation to dynamically select contextual or relevant advertising content for display would be desirable. Additionally, a method for utilizing the content of an online conversation to dynamically select other relevant information (e.g., dictionary definitions, links to additional information and the like) for display would be advantageous.